Happy Holidays!!
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Currently, Eat So They Can has raised over $170,00!! Thank you to everyone who has made this possible!
Here it is; The last edition of the Eat So They Can newsletter for 2009! I can’t believe how fast the year has gone! Like all of you, the staff at GVN Foundation has been very busy preparing for the holiday season. It hasn’t been all hard work though. Visits to family, shopping for gifts, and finding it impossible not to sing along to our favorite holiday songs are all part of getting into the holiday spirit!
December is a great time to reflect on the moments of the past year as well as plan those resolutions for the new one. For me, I cannot help but smile when I think of the incredible success of Eat So They Can due to our hosts, donors, and other supporters. I definitely have a lot to be grateful for! As for the future, I am going to continue my resolve to work for those who have inspired me so much. I have been incredibly touched by the hard work I have been hearing about and the brave steps taken by others.
One of my new sources of inspiration is our book Ripples of Difference. It is a collection of unique and powerful stories written by some of our past volunteers (and one previous ESTC host!) from around the world. These volunteers have touched the lives of countless people from the IDP camps in Africa to children’s orphanages in Asia! Their compassion, determination and true belief that their “ripple” will make a difference gets me excited for the work ahead in 2010! With people like this all around me, that ripple is going to be a huge wave pretty soon!
I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and may 2010 be your best year yet!
Best,
Courtney
ESTC Co-Founder and GVN Foundation Director
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New Team Member!
We are excited to announce the newest addition to the office, Caitie Goddard!
Caitie is originally from the United States but has moved around quite a bit recently! Her most recent "home away from home" was Uganda where she worked for 9 weeks in a village outside of Kampala. Working in the community doing everything from assisting with free HIV testing clinics, spending afternoons at an orphanage and giving talks to new and expecting mothers on pre and postnatal care, she kept herself busy enough to have memories still vivid in her mind. Moving to New Zealand is certainly the farthest away from her home-state of Michigan she has been she says, "I definitely miss my family and friends back home but I am so excited to be here. I have tons to learn and I can't wait to get started!"
Kia Ora Caitie!
Research
In January 2010 Eliza, GVN Foundation’s grants coordinator, will be heading to Kenya to research good practice in orphanages. At the GVN Foundation we recognize that local people are in the best position to come up with resourceful, creative solutions to local problems. Eliza’s research will therefore seek local definitions of a ‘model orphanage’ from a staff perspective, a volunteer perspective and from the perspective of the children themselves.
The main objective of Eliza’s research will be to create an orphanage development framework which will provide:
- A foundation from which to shape future GVN Foundation funding
- A means to evaluate the success of GVN Foundation grants
- Clear short- and long-term goals for both orphanage staff and GVN Foundation staff
- A basis from which to develop sustainable orphanages
If you’re interested in finding out more, please contact Eliza at
New Years Resolutions
This year, make a decision to stop resolving not to do something and instead make the resolution to act! Here are a few ideas that we think will make you feel so great on the inside, it will show on the outside as well!
- Get in shape while changing lives; join a fundraising trek!
- Make 2010 the year of change!
- Gift yourself or a friend the chance to have an experience of a lifetime and volunteer!
- Learn more about poverty and the issues facing developing countries; Get informed!
- And of course, host an event in 2010 for Eat So They Can!
Action and Advocacy
20 December-International Human Solidarity Day
Proclaimed by the General Assembly to take place on 20 December each year, it has as its goal; awareness-raising of the importance of advancing the international development agenda and promoting global understanding of the value of human solidarity. In order to increase awareness of social development issues and the importance of this international day, and in light of the rise of social media as a key means by which people are interconnected, this year they are spreading the word through a Facebook page. We hope that those of you who are currently using Facebook will become fans of the page and spread the word through your networks. Please visit facebook's page for human solidarity.
As a “fan” of this page you will have the opportunity to engage in discussions with our network and post information about activities you are organizing or participating in related to human solidarity. We encourage you to post relevant photos, brief messages on the wall, or longer messages in the notes feature.